News

The goal of this year's meeting is to examine how ethics, logic, and perception guide conservation decisions. Possible subjects for presentations include increased accessibility and use of built heritage, the effects of changing environmental standards on lending practices, the treatment of contemporary and ephemeral works, artists' and owners' rights; the evolution of ethical codes of conduct.

For more information and to submit an abstract please visit our website. Abstracts for consideration, are due by Sept. 7, 2010 and should be no more than 500 words. You can also submit an abstract to: Ruth Seyler, Membership and Meetings Director, at abstracts@conservation-us.org by Tuesday, September 7, 2010.

R. Robert Waller to receive SPNHC Rose Award

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections has chosen R. Robert (Rob) Waller as the 2010 recipient of the Carolyn Rose Award, the Society’s highest honor. The Rose Award recognizes significant contributions to the objectives of the Society and is often given as a lifetime achievement award. While Waller has not reached the end of his professional career, he is recognized by colleagues for “achieving in one career what would take most others several lifetimes.” Until recently starting his own company (Protect Heritage Corporation), Waller had been with the Canadian Museum of Nature since 1975 where he started as conservator of its Mineral Sciences Division. He was named conservation chief in 1996. As a member of the museum’s collection care team, he received the 2003 American Institute for Conservation of Heritage Preservation Award for “Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections.”

Nominations for the Rose Award cite Waller for pioneering advances in the field of collection management and conservation worldwide far beyond the field of natural history. An Ottawa resident, he received his B.S. in computer science, with a minor in geology, from the University of Manitoba in 1976. His doctoral thesis from Goteborg University in 2003, Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model, was considered groundbreaking and has since changed the way museum collection professionals plan strategically and set priorities. Conservator Catharine Hawks noted in her recommendation that Waller “has steadily improved the way we address our public trust responsibilities by developing a means to demonstrate accountability and estimate the preservation potential of our actions.” Chris Norris, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, added, “Geological conservators, collection managers and curators are putting into practice techniques for the preventive conservation of collections that they learned from courses organized by Rob over 20 years ago.”

The Rose Award will be presented on June 4 at the Society’s 25th anniversary meeting in Ottawa. The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections is an international organization devoted to the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections.

Library and Archives Canada's National Role in Preservation

Library and Archives Canada has been working on a comprehensive modernization initiative that will allow us to better meet the needs of Canadian Society while at the same time continue to fulfill our mandate. We recognize the value of a consultative apporach in developing our future directions where all internal and external audiences are involved in an open communications culture. We have posted Library and Archives Canada's National Role in Preservation, a paper that outlines how we plan to perform within the broad national context as the lead federal institution for the preservation of Canada's documentary heritage.

We invite you to comment on this document, or on any of the modernization documents posted on www.collectionscanada.gc.ca. Thank you for your participation in this modernization initiative.

Conservation Online
(CoOL)

The American Institute for Conservation (AIC), through its Foundation (FAIC), has assumed responsibility for the management and operations of Conservation Online (CoOL). To ensure the continued growth of CoOL, the FAIC invited members to give their input on the future development of this site.

Online Survey